Synopsis

Plot

It is Halloween at Elmore, and many of its residents are going trick-or-treating from house to house. At the Wattersons', Gumball states his disapproval of Anais' princess costume, arguing that Halloween is meant to be scary. Anais counters by saying cute costumes earn more candy. Darwin meanwhile, is white and shaken out of fear of Halloween. The group moves out, a worried Nicole frantically warning them to be careful and to return by seven o'clock. As the eldest child, Gumball is charged with watching over his siblings.

The trio ends up wandering into a cemetery, which Gumball says is a shortcut to a place filled with candy. An abandoned, haunted house stands over the distance, which he labels their "destination". Darwin is flabbergasted by Gumball's sense of direction, while Anais questions how much candy they can earn from the house. Gumball reveals his true intentions in full: each year, the house hosts a party for the undead. Carrie warps in to elaborate on the annual festivities and the undead attendees. Darwin, still shaken, voices his objection, but Gumball reminds him of his authority, to Darwin's disdain. Conversely, Anais is enthusiastic about going to the party. Carrie disapproves of her babyish outfit, and Gumball wholeheartedly agrees, hanging Anais on a tree in the process.

Carrie, Gumball, and Darwin continue on to the house, which appears desolate at first. Carrie warns them not to tell anyone they are alive, and something else that is inaudible. She repeats herself twice; on the second time, Darwin yells at her to speak louder. Carrie tells them to drink one, and only one drop of a mysterious potion. Darwin reasons that anything that must be consumed only in minute quantities can be disastrous. Gumball blindsides him by flicking a drop into his gaping mouth. Darwin instantly goes wide-eyed and stares blankly into the room, causing Gumball to rethink drinking the potion. Darwin, however, forces a drop of the potion into Gumball's mouth, unveiling the party in progress and many undead creatures.

Anais, still dangling the tree, is determined to get into the party. She shakes herself off the branch, only to fall straight into a deep well.

At the party, Carrie, Gumball, and Darwin mingle with the other ghosts Carrie floats near a bowl filled with a strange substance, which Gumball takes interest in. The bowl contains ectoplasm, the very fiber of ghosts. Despite Carrie's warnings, Gumball immaturely demands for some, and a passing ghost obliges and gives him a glassful. The glass passes through his hand, and their mortality catches the attention of the partygoers. Gumball, thinking quick, consumes a large dose of the potion to turn into a ghost, but Darwin advises against it. After some peer pressure, Darwin yanks the bottle from Gumball's hands and takes a big swig himself. The two of them take turns gulping the potion down until Carrie stops them. Gumball and Darwin laugh at her, but are cut short when they turn into ghosts and lose their physical bodies. Darwin gives Carrie a spontaneous kiss, and the party rages on. Elated by their ghostly appearances, the two hover off towards Elmore to cause their trademark mischief with their newfound capabilities.

Their escapades begin at the gas station, drawing a gruff face on Larry Needlemeyer to resemble a criminal on a wanted poster behind him. The Doughnut Sheriff arrives and mistakes him for the criminal, threatening him with his Taser and arresting him. They then animate a moose head in the The Robinsons' house terrifying both Gaylord and Margaret. Their final prank is to possess Tina Rex and wreak havoc on Elmore. However, controlling a dinosaur's body has proven to be difficult, and Gumball and Darwin instead make Tina fall on her face. The two depart, sounding off a T-Rex roar beforehand.

Having finally climbed out of the well, Anais rushes to the house and straight for the party. There, two ghosts find Gumball's and Darwin's lifeless bodies and use them as puppets. Anais sees this and looks confused. At the doorstep, she finds Carrie's potion bottle nearby and takes a sample of it, allowing her to see the undead.

Carrie tracks down Gumball and Darwin in time to warn them that if they do not return to their bodies by midnight, they will remain ghosts forever. The three race back to the haunted house, but as they reach the graveyard, a bell tolls to signal the passing of midnight. The ghosts return to their graves, and Gumball is grabbed by a zombie arm, prompting him to scream in terror. An enormous vortex opens up in the floor of the house, swallowing all undead to the afterlife. With renewed vigor granted by his sister's perilous screams, Gumball finds the courage to tear his pants off and run through the graveyard, dodging the army of zombie hands trying to pull him into the underworld. Darwin is caught by one and trips. Carrie fends off the ghosts, allowing Gumball enough breathing room to continue. She helps him up, but before they can do anything else, several more arms spring up to capture them. Darwin is on the verge of wetting himself, but Carrie is able to distract the arms long enough for him to run by. The arms attempt to pull her into the underworld, but because Carrie belongs to the mortal realm, they are unsuccessful.

Gumball manages to arrive at the house. To his horror, his sister has turned into the ghost and is one slip away from being confined to the underworld. He takes this moment to apologize dramatically. Anais is both moved by his compassion and annoyed at him for wasting such valuable time. Darwin arrives on the scene and notifies his siblings of their bodies slipping into the vortex. The three make a desperate leap to retrieve their bodies as the portal seals shut behind them.

With the house barren once again, Carrie begins to mourn for her friends. Miraculously, the gateway opens up and the three are spat back out, returned to their bodies. Nicole drives in, enraged that it was past midnight and they were not home yet. As the three try to explain themselves, they discover that they are not in their respective bodies. They assure their mother that Carrie can get them back to normal, only for her to vanish after an awkward silence. The episode ends with Nicole confused and the Watterson children nervously eyeing one another.

At midnight, Gumball and Darwin seem to forget that they can fly as ghosts.

It is strange that Carrie blushed when Darwin kissed her considering the fact that blushing is caused when more blood flows through the cheeks. But Carrie, being a spirit, does not have blood.

Originally, Darwin was going to be the one to blow their cover by asking for ectoplasm, rather than Gumball. Also, there was multiple deleted scenes, including Richard trick-or-treating at their own house for candy in the beginning, Gumball and Darwin spooking Miss Simian and Principal Brown, and Carrie requesting that Darwin not kiss her ever again.

Anais was only seen drinking one drop of the potion, allowing her to see the ghosts. However, right as she is nearly taken to the underworld, she became a ghost. It is possible that she may have drank more of the potion at some point.[1]

This is the second time the Watterson kids had a body swap. The first time was in "The Job," only it was Gumball and Anais' heads and brains that were swapped.

This is the first time the episode name does not have the word "the" in it.

Despite Gumball and Anais wearing costumes, when they become ghosts they are wearing their normal clothes.

Continuity

This is the third time that Carrie gets a major role in an episode. The first time was in "The Ghost," and the second time was in "The Flower."

Carrie reveals she was born a ghost, which explains why she is able to be seen by normal people. The other ghosts attending the party all actually died.

However, this explanation contradicts what she said in "The Ghost" about missing her old body.

This may mean Carrie had possessed a body before, and then lost it.

Carrie also states that she belongs to "this world," so the other ghosts were not able to send her to the underworld.

Cultural References

The ghosts may be a reference to the origins of Halloween: the Samhain Festival (pronounced “sow-in”), an ancient Celtic festival of the dead, during which time the souls of the dead were believed to revisit the living.

The ghost party may be also a reference to the "Devil's midnight ball" from Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, where "dead sinners" which came to the ball were granted for one night to "get rid of the pains of hell."

The climax of the episode in which the house is sucked through the vortex seems to be a parody of the final scene in the film Poltergeist.

Haunted House

Carrie: [Whispers] You're going to have to make sure that you never let anyone know– [Her voice becomes inaudible]

Gumball: [Whispers] Uh, sorry, you were a little too quiet on the second part.

Carrie: [Whispers] Oh. Well what I said was you're going to have to make sure you never– [Her voice fades again]

Gumball: [Whispers angrily] Are you doing this on purpose? 'Cause it's kind of annoying.

Carrie: [Whispers] I said you're going to have to–

Darwin: [Shouting] Just tell us already! Why, are we whispering, in an empty house?!

Carrie: Oh just drink some of this potion and you'll see. [ A vial of green liquid appears; it hovers above Carrie's hand] It'll make you part ghost. But no more than a drop, understand?

[Gumball accepts the vial.]

Darwin: What are you doing? You're too young to be drinking mysterious potions.

Gumball: Oh don't be a square. What's the worst that can happen? [He uncorks the vial, releasing a ghostly face which flies off-screen.] Um, are you sure we're going to be okay?

Carrie: As long as you only have one drop.

Darwin: See, that's the thing. Anything you can only have one drop of can't be good. They don't sell milk by the drop, do they? They sell it by the GALLON! Look at water; that's good for you, which is why it comes out of the FAUCET!

[Gumball flings a drop of the potion into Darwin's mouth, causing his pupils to dilate unnaturally]

Darwin: Ohhh...

Gumball: [Skeptical] I think I might give this potion a miss.

Darwin: I'm not going through this alone!

[Darwin forces Gumball's mouth open, and pours in a drop of the potion; Gumball gasps, his pupils dilating as well; a multitude of ghosts appear]

Ghost Party!

Gumball and Darwin: Awesome!

Ghosts: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh!

[One of the ghosts is headbanging to the music and accidentally flings its brain into a punch bowl on the table; the drink splashes a comatose, apple-shaped ghost]

Ghost with a hoodie: Dude, I think you had a little too much fun.

Worm inside the apple: No, he's always like that.

[A muddy ghost bumps into a female ghost who is holding a cup, causing her to spill the drink on her shirt]

Female ghost: Hey, you got ectoplasm all over my top!

[It is shown that the female ghost has no body below her torso]

Muddy ghost: Well, it would have been hard to get it on your bottom.

[The male ghost laughs until the female's disembodied legs kick him from behind. Elsewhere, a pixelated ghost is knocking on a door]

Pixelated ghost: Yo, you done yet?

[The pixelated ghost looks into the room, making the occupant scream. The pixelated ghost is slapped. A headless ghost that has bubbles coming out of a hole on its neck is conversing with a female ghost sitting on its lap]

Female ghost: You've got such a way with words.

[Gumball and Darwin glare at Carrie]

Carrie: What?

Gumball: Well, how come we can see you everyday, but we have to take a potion to see them?

Carrie: Duh! Because I was born a ghost. Come on, let's go meet some people. [She floats away]

Darwin: How does that work?

Gumball: [Mimicking Carrie] Duh! ...I don't know, actually.

[They move to join the party and the doors close behind them. Outside, Anais is struggling to get off the branch]

Anais: I'm so going to get into that partyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

[Anais' dress rips and she falls into a well beneath her; she screams for an extended period of time before finally landing in water]

Anais: Dag-nabbit!

Ghosts Now

[Several ghosts greet Carrie as she floats by]

Carrie: Hi, guys.

Gumball: [To a ghost he passes by] Hey. [To Carrie, as he points at the punch bowl] What's that stuff?

Carrie: Duh! It's ectoplasm. It's what ghosts are made of.

Gumball: [In a strange voice] I want some.

Carrie: Well, you can't.

Gumball: [Loudly] I want some ectoplasm!

Carrie: [Shushes him] You can't drink it!

Nearby ghost: Chill out dude, there's plenty to go around.

[Ghost leans over to hand a cup to Gumball]

Carrie: No! No, don't!

[The cup goes through Gumball's hand and vanishes into the floor. The music suddenly stops as the ghosts turn to stare at them]